Wrapping and sealing machine



Feb. 26, 1929. H. H. METCALF WRAPPING AND SEALING MAGEINE Fileq Sept. 1925 '7 Sheets-Sheet 1 11V m/v TOR Howard /z. M61 ail/V QKWWQ A TTORNE Y5 Feb. 26, 1929.

H. H. METCALF WRAPPING AND SEALING MACHINE Filed Sept. 1925 7 Sheets-Sheet 3 H u/ard ff Ha ai/ Feb. 26, 1929. H. H. METcALF 1,703,355

WRAPPING AND SEALING MACHINE Howard lffletea/ A TTORNE V3 Feb. 26, 1929. H. H. METCALF WRAPPING AND SEALING MACHINE Filed Sept. 1925 7 Sheets-Sheet 5 Howard/7M6 may 2% A TTORNE V9 3 w: R m M Q g nHU R GU mm 3 3 ,u E IH 3 a i 3w MN m: S 4 3 3 mm Feb. 26, 1929. METCALF 1,703,855

WRAPPING AND'SEALING MACHINE Filed Sept. 1925 7 Sheets-Sheet 6 N [N V/iNTO/f 7 By Howard ff/feggg A TTORNE Patented Feb. 26, 192 9.

UNITED STATES 1,703,855 PATENT OFFICE.

HOWARD H. METOALF, F BATTLE CREEK, MICHIGAN, ASSIG-NOR TO BATTLE CREEK BREAD WRAPPING MACHINE COMPANY, OF BATTLE CREEK, MICHIGAN.

WRAPPING AND SEALING MACHINE.

Application filed September 8, 1925. Serial No. 55,077.

This invention relates to improvements in wrapping and sealing machines.

The main objects of this invention are: First, to provide an improved sealing machine which is compact and at the same time of large capacity.

Second, to provide an improved wrapping machine which may be quickly adjusted to wrap articles of different sizes or dimensions. Third, to provide in a sealing machine an improved spring feed mechanism which may be readily adjusted to supply paper for wrapping articles of varying sizes.

Fourth, to provide in a wrapipng machine an improved article carriage or transfer means for conveying the article to be wrapped into the wrapping mechanism.

Fifth, to provide an improved means for deliveri g and controlling the paper to be y the articles to be wrapped. 0 provide an improved means for ielding pressure to the article as ed throng? the sealing mechanism. sever h, to provie an improved article f ed or ivery whereby articles of varying as may as effectively fed or deiivered.

pertaining details and economies co tructio i and operation of my eiy appear from the escription 0 follow.

lish the objects of my invention neans described in the The invention is .ed out in the claims. png the features of my clearly ilinstrated in accon a part this ap vi? a.

a wrapping fragm .tary side pposite side from iooliirr showing the details and relation of certain of the flap folders and the end sealing plates, this being one of a pair of units assembled for simultaneous adjustment to adapt the machine to articles of different dimensions.

Fig. VII is a fragmentary plan view of a pair of units shown in Fig. VI in their assembled relation. 1

Fig. VIII is a fra mentary perspective view showingdetails of the paper feed mechanism and its adjusting means.

Fig. IX is a fragmentary view partially in section of the article feed mechanism taken on line 99 of Fig. I.

1 Fig. X is a detail section on a line corresponding to line 10-10 of Fig. VIII showing details of the paper knife control means.

Fig. XI is an enlarged detail view mainly in section on a line corresponding to line 1111 of Fig. I, showing details of the drive for the feed conveyor including the timing or adjusting means.

Fig. XII is a detail section on a line corresponding to line 1212 of Fig. XI.

Fig. XIII is a fragmentary perspective View showing details of the means for holding the sheet during the actuation of the first folders.

Fig. XIV is fragm view of parts shown in the first foiders in actuated Fig. XV is a fragmentary per 4 view shoW article to be was is a fragment rs. perspective View sthe foi ons" nated generally by the numeral 4 and in the structure illustrated comprising a pair of sprocket chains 5 carrying the flights 6, the, sprocket chains being passed over the sprockets 7 on the shaft 8 at the front end of the machine. This shaft 8 is intermittently driven by means of the mutilated or intermittent gear 9 coacting with the mutilated or intermittent driving gear 10 on the shaft 12.

The sprocket chains 5 are supported at their rear ends by the sprocket wheels 13. The articles are carried along by the flights 6 upon the conveyor way 14 and delivered by the flights above the elevating or transfer lunger 15. This plunger is supported by t e rods 16 slidable in the vertical bearings 17 and connected by the adjustable connecting rod 18 which is actuated by the lever 19 pivoted at 20 and having an arm 21 actuated by the cam 22.

In Fig. I the elevating plunger 15 is shown in partially elevated position. It will be understood that when retracted it lies below the plane of the upper reach or delivery reach of the feed conveyor. The movement of the elevator and conveyor is timed so that the elevator is actuated while the conveyor is at rest.

The articles are delivered by the conveyor against the adjustable stop 23 which is adjustable to properly position articles of varying sizes; that is, to adapt the machine to wrap articles of different dimension, and in order to center the article to be wrapped relative to the transfer plunger, I provide means for adjustably connecting the gear 9 to the shaft 8.

This comprises, as best shown in Fig. XI, a sleeve 24 to which the pinion is secured, the sleeve being; arranged in a suitable bearing 25 in the frame, and having on its outer end a disk 26 with an annular series of holes 27 therein. A coacting disk 28 is keyed to the outer end of the shaft 8 and carries a pin 29 which may be selectively engaged in the holes 27. A nut 30 clamped upon the end of the shaft 8 clamps the disk 28 in its adjusted positions.

With the parts thus arranged the point at which the conveyor flights are stopped relative to the transfer plunger 15 is easily adjusted or controlled, and with the adjustment of the stop 23 the article is properly centered upon the elevating conveyor and relative to the mechanism to which it is delivered by the elevating conveyor.

ports 31 are inclined in both directions from .tendency has already been imparted to the sheet to drape ox er the top of the article.

Above these sheet supporting members 31 and at each side of the path of the article are sheet draping members 33, the ends of.

which areadjustable in the notched brackets 35 disposed at each side of the machine.

The bars 34 are retained in the notches by which they are engaged by means of the retaining bar 36 held in place by the stud bolts 37 having thumb nuts 38, the bar 36 being freed when it is desired to adjust the draping members 33 to permit the bars 34 to be adjusted as desired.

As the article is carried upwardly by the elevating conveyor it is, as stated, passed between the draping members which drape the wrapper against the front and rear sides of the article. To effectively hold the wrapper in position while acted upon by the first flap folders, I provide wrapper supporting bars 39 which are disposed horizontally above the article as shown in Figs. XIII to XVI, inclusive. These wrapper holder bars have up-turned front ends 40 slotted at 41 to receive the clamping bolts 42 so that these wrapper holder bars may be vertically adjusted to articles of different heights.

When the article is delivered to this poered to the holder jaws 44 and 45. the jaw 44 being pivoted at 46 on a depending relatively fixed arm 47 on the feed carriage and the older or gripping member 45 being pivotally mounted on the arm 48 which is mounted for swingin movement on the carriage to free the articles as will be hereinafter described. i

The feed carriage, designated generally by the numeral 49 is slidably mounted on the rod-like ways 50 disposed horizontally above the wrapping'and sealing way. The carriage 49 comprises a cross member 51 having bearings coacting with the slide ways 50 and a cross member 52 having bearings at its ends coacting with the slide ways. These cross members are adjustably connected by means of the screw 53 having a hand-wheel 54 at one end thereof.

The carriage is actuated from the actuating lever 55 to which it is connected by the link 56. The lever 55 is operated by means of a cam 55 on the cam shaft.

The arm 47 is carried by the screw 53, the arm being mounted on a block 57 engaging the screw so that the arm may be positioned according to the size of the article that is to be wrapped.

The arm 48 is carried by a ivoted arm carrying or carriage member designated generally by the numeral 58 and comprising sition by the transfer conveyor, it is deliv- 1 a cross member 59 pivoted at 60 on the carriage 49. The member 59 carries a pair of rods 61 having a cross piece 62 at their outer ends. A slide 63 is adjustably supported on the rod 61 by-means of the screw 64 having a hand-wheel 65 at its outer end. The arm 48 is yieldingly mounted on this slide 63 by means of the bolts 67 carried by the plate 66 on the slide and arranged through holes in the arm. Springs 68 on these bolts support the arm for yielding and pivotal or swinging movement, the pressure being on the lower end of the arm or on its gripping member. The arm 48 is free to swing or tilt but is yieldingly supported.

When the carriage is in its initial position, as shown in Fig. I, the arms 47 and 48 are substantially parallel, the grippers 44 and 45 being supported, as illustrated, in the path of the article to be wrapped. The article is pushed between these grippers which serve to more closely drape or conform the wrapper to the sides of the article, the carriage carrying it on to the wrapping and sealing way at the rear.

As the carriage moves on its stroke, the tilting or rear gripper carrying member is tilted or elevated to the position shown in Fig. IV so that the arm 48 clears the article on the forward or return stroke of the car riage. This is accomplished by providing the carriage member 58 with a cross member 69 having a roller 70 on the end thereof engaging a cam groove in the cam member 71. This cam groove has a horizontal front portion 72, a horizontal rear portion 73 and an upwardly inclined intermediate portion 74 so that the arm 48 is held in upright position during the early part of the stroke of the carriage and is then swung upwardly through the engagement of the roller with the portion 74 of the cam and held in this position until the article has been advanced far enough so that the arm 48 drops down behind it on the return of the carriage.

1 will now describe the flap folding mechanism. which, however, is not claimed herein. Such flap folding mechanism is the subject matter of claims in pending applications filedby me.

While the article to be'wrapped is supported in initial position as delivered to the wrapping mechanism carriage by the transfer plunger, it is acted upon by the front bottom flap folder 75 mounted on a slide 76 which is reciprocated from the lever 77 connected to the slide by the links 78.

The lever 77 is connected to the actuating lever 79 by means of a link 80. The lever 79 is actuated from a cam 81, see Fig. III.

The slide or carriage 76 also carries the front end flap folders 82 which are adjustably supported by means of the reversely threaded screw 83 having threaded enga ement with the flap folders 82. The fl ap folders are further supported by the slide rod 84, this rod 84 and the screw being carried by brackets 85 on the slide.

By rotating the screw 83 the flap folders 82 are simultaneously adjusted to and from each other. The flap folder carriage 76 is timed to be actuated as the transfer plunger moves downwardly so that these flap folders not only'serve to fold the front bottom and end flaps, but also serve as an article supporting means until the carriage transfers the article on to the sealing and wrapping way.

This sealing and wrapping way comprises the center member 86 and adjustable members 87, there being an adjustable member disposed at each side of the center member 86 and slidably supported by the rods 88 carried by the frame members 89. The frontends of the way members 86 and 87 are down-turned or beveled at 90 so that as the article to be wrappedis pushed thereon the rear bottom flap folder is turned or folded under the article.

As the article is carried along on to this folding and sealing way, it is first engaged by the rear end flap folders 91 and folded thereby forwardly upon the previously folded front flap folder. The folders 91 are provided with creasing fingers 92-which are adjustably mounted at 93 to adapt them to articles of varying heights, the purpose being to cause a straight fold or crease in the top flap previous to its being engaged by the top flap folders.

The plate-like bottom flap folders 94 have forwardly inclined edges 95 at their front ends which engage the bottom flaps and turn them upwardly, the folders 94 being of considerable length so that the folded flaps are supported thereby. Above these flap folders 94 are top flap folders 96 having outwardly and rearwardly inclined flanges 97 on their lower ends which turn the top flaps down over the bottom end flaps, thus completely folding the flaps.

The flap folders 96 are adjustably mounted on the posts 98 by means of the brackets 99. These flap folders are also mounted on the adjustable way members 87 which are simultaneously adjusted by means of the reversely threaded screw 100.

A bottom sealing plate 101 is operatively associated with this way, see Fig. VII, and sealing plates 102 are carried by the rearwardly projecting brackets 1.03 mounted on the way members 87 to be adjusted therewith. These sealing plates 102 are (lisposed at the sides of the delivery conveyor designated generally by the numeral 104 and which, in the structure illustrated comprises a conveyor belt 105.

At the rear of the sealing plates 102 the delivery conveyor is provided with flap retaining members 106 comprising a plurality loo 1 slot 133 of the adjustable arm 134.

of spaced bars allowing for the rapid cooling and setting of the paraffin, it being understood that the machine illustrated is designed for using paraffin wax wrappers, and the scaling is effected by melting the wax sufficiently to cause the overlapping flaps to adhere.

'lhe flap folding and adjustable conveyor features described are the subject of claimsin my pending applications for Letters Patent Serial No. 733,569, filed June 15, 1925 (renewal) and Serial No. 47,822 filed August" 3, 1925.

As the article passes from below the wrapper folding members 39 it is engaged by the pressure bar 107 which is yieldingly supported at its ends by means of rods 108, the bar being connected to the rods by pivots 109. These rods are supported in brackets 110 and are provided with thrust collars 111 engaged by the spring 112 so that the pressure bar is supported by yielding pressure at both ends and is capable of independent tilting movement. The thrust collars 111 are adjustably secured by means of the set screws 113 so that the pressure may be regulated, see the relation of these parts in Figs.

the article, I provide a paper feed consisting of a pair of feed rollers 114 and 115, both being driven rollers and being connected by the gears 116 and 117. The web of paper indicated at 118 is passed from the roll 2 between these feed-rollers. At the rear of the feed rollers is a cutter comprising a shear bar 119 and coacting knife 120. The knife is carried by the arms 121 on the rockshaft 122.

This rockshaft is provided with an arm 123 coacting with the cam 124, which cam is adjustable and comprises a cam member 125 pinned to the cam shaft 126 and the adjustable member 1.27 having a segmental slot 128 therein engaged by the screw 129 carried by the member 125. A clamping nut 130 is provided as a further means for securing the cam member 127 in its adjusted positions. By adjusting this cam the timing of the actuation of the knife is controlled.

The severed sheet or wrapper is fed by delivery rollers 131 resting upon the sheet, these rollers being fixed to a shaft or spindle 132 the ends of which are engaged in the This igoaeae roller is moved forward or backward, thus 7 determining the feed of the sheet, which stops when it passes from under the roller.

The arm 134 is provided with an index finger 138 coacting with an indicia scale 139 which has indicia indicating the length of the sheet in inches, a sheet fifteen inches in len th being the smallest indicated.

oacting with these feed rollers 131 in positioning the sheet for preventing the overthrow thereof, I provide a stop 140 adapted to be adjusted to engage the edge of the sheet. This stop is adjustably secured on the graduated bar 141 by means of the set screw 142. The stop 140 has a forwardly facing centrally disposed hook-like member 143 and a forwardly projecting arm 144 upon which the rear end of the sheet rests. The paper feed is actuated only when ar ticles are being fed into the machine in position to be wrapped and this feed is automatically controlled from a trip 145 mounted on the rock shaft 146 provided with an arm 147 connected by a link 148 to the feed control mechanism designated generally by the numeral 149. The trip 145 is positioned to be engaged by the articles carried by the feed conveyor so that the paper feed is actuated only, as stated, when articles are being fed to position to be wrapped. The details of this paper feed control form no part of this invention and are, therefore, not described with further detail.

Having thus described the structure of my improvements in general, I will briefly point out the operation thereof:

The articles to be wrapped are placed upon the feed conveyor 4 between its flights 6 and are carried forwardly with an intermittent motion of the feed conveyor to a position to be engaged by the transfer or elevating conveyor 15, the adjustable stop 23 and the adjusting means for controlling the stopping of the feed conveyor, properly centering the article on the transfer conveyor. The aper feed mechanism described delivers the wrappers across the path of the elevating conveyor against the stop 140, and they are supported by the crowned wrapper supports 32, the top of the article engaging the slightly crowned sheet. As the article is carried upward, it passes between the side draping members 33 which are adjnstabig." supported as described for the accommodation of articles of varying dimensions, and is delivered by the elevating conveyor be tween the article gripping mer-nbers 44 and 45 of the carriage which is then at the forward limit of its stroke as shown in Fig. 1'.

The elevating conveyor is then retracted and in proper synchronism therewith the front bottom and end flap folders 75 and 82, respectively, are actuated to fold the front bottomfla'p and front end flaps, the carriage being then actuated to transfer the article upon the wrapping and sealing way, which movement folds the bottom flap.

As the article is carried rearwardly, the rear. end, bottom and top; flap folders act to --fold the respective flaps and the bottom flaps arebrought into contact with the bottom heating plate 101. During this rearward stroke of the carriage the arm 48 is swung upwardly during the work stroke of the carriage to clear the article so that on its return stroke it passes over the article. The continued reciprocation of the carriage delivers the articles one by one, the succeeding articles pushing the preceding articles on to the discharge conveyor which carries them between-the end heating plates and the cooling members 106.

plated as I believe this disclosure will enable those skilled in the art to embody or adapt my improvements as may be desired.

Having thus described my invention what I'claim as new and desire to secure by Letteis Patent is:

In a structure of the class described, "the 'combination of an intermittently acting feed conveyor,- a transfer plunger operatively associated with said feed means, a-paper feed and wrapper severing means adjustable to vary the length of the wrapper-" delivered, a

controlling means therefor actuated by the coacting with said wrapper feed means in positioning the wrapper in the path of said plunger, wrapper supporting membersv adapted to support a wrapper in crowned position in the path of the plunger, wrapper draping members adjustably mounted at the sides of the path of the plunger, and fla folding means operatively associated wit said carriage. v

2. In a structure of the class described, the combination of a feed conveyor, a plunger reciprocating transversely of said feed conveyor, an adjustable article stop disposed at the side of the path of saidplunger and in opposed relation to said feed conveyor, and means for intermittently driving said feed conveyor including means for varying the stopping point of the article propelling means relative to said plunger.

3. In a structure of the class described, the combination of a plunger, means for feeding wrappers across the path of said plunger, wrapper supporting members disposed at the sides of the path of the plunger and adapted to support the wrapper in crowned position in the path of the plunger,

and a flap folding means including a conveyor means to which the articles are delivered by said plunger with the wrappers draped over the top and sides thereof.

4. In a structure. of the class described, the combination of a plunger, means for feeding wrappers across the path of said plunger, wrapper supporting members disposed at the sides of the path of the plunger and adapted to support the wrapper in crowned position in the path of the plunger, and a flap folding means.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set 111 band.

y Y HOWARD H. METCALF. 

